Area volunteers returning to Gulf Coast

Area volunteers returning to Gulf Coast PEORIA - For Walter Lockhart, his Thursday trip to Louisiana is a little bit of deja vu.

FRANK RADOSEVICH II

For Walter Lockhart, his Thursday trip to Louisiana is a little bit of deja vu.

Back in 2005, he headed to Lake Charles, La., and helped victims dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans and surrounding states three years ago today.

Now, the 65-year-old Red Cross volunteer is once again returning to the Gulf Coast, only this time to a different city and for a different storm.

Along with four other volunteers from central Illinois, Lockhart will staff an evacuation shelter in Alexandria, La., set up for those fleeing Tropical Storm Gustav as it inches closer. A sixth volunteer from Danville, will soon be traveling to Louisiana as well.

"You're a little apprehensive and wonder what's going through the people's minds," Lockhart, a retired cement worker from Metamora, said while waiting for his flight at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport. "Katrina was a pretty traumatic experience for those people down there, and I'm sure that experience is probably in the back of their minds. And to have another one come, it probably scares those people a bit."

With memories of Katrina's wrath still fresh in the mind, roughly 2,000 Red Cross volunteers are mobilizing as Gustav continued its worrying march toward the Gulf Coast. The call for volunteers went out after the National Weather Service predicted the strengthening storm could hit the Louisiana coastline or other surrounding states late Monday or early Tuesday.

Like Lockhart, Saroj Saha, another volunteer slated to fly out this morning, will be returning to Louisiana after spending a week there gutting out houses damaged by Katrina. He has kept an eye on the weather and said if Gustav reaches land, the volunteers on the ground should be ready to handle any fallout, which was not always the case with Hurricane Katrina.

"We're very prepared this time, so I think we are going to be better able to take care of people," the 22-year-old Peorian said. "No one wants to see another Katrina."

On Thursday, Gustav had reportedly already killed more than 50 people in Haiti and was closing in on Jamaica as forecasters predicted the tropical storm would develop into a Category 3 hurricane by earlier next week with winds topping 111 mph or higher. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Wednesday and promised to activate about 5,000 National Guard troops in advance of the storm.

Before boarding his noon plane to Atlanta, Ron Pfederer, a first-time Red Cross volunteer and contractor who helped rebuild parts the East Coast in 1989 after it was lashed by Hurricane Hugo, said he felt a mix of excitement and fear about his trip, though overall, he wished his services would not be needed.

"I would hope that the devastation for the people down there doesn't come, and we can come home," the 52-year-old Tremont resident said. "But if it does hit, there are people who are going to help."

Frank Radosevich II can be reached at 686-3142 or fradosevich@pjstar.com.